Dark horse halted, top seed eliminated, Sun Fajing and You Xiaodi just one step away from the championship

Unnoticed, the 2025 China Tour Finals held in Macau have already reached the knockout stage. In the men's singles, the tournament's top seed Sun Fajing, second seed Cui Jie, and fourth seed Li Guanyi all secured three consecutive wins in the group stage, smoothly advancing to the semifinals.

The only surprise was Zeng Yaojie, who reached the semifinals twice in the 2025 Hope Tournament and also achieved three straight wins in the group stage to enter the semifinals; meanwhile, the third seed Mo Yeccong, despite winning the first set, was overturned by Zeng Yaojie and was eliminated from the group stage, leaving the tournament disappointedly.

On the women's singles side, things were equally steady. The top seed Zheng Wushuang, second seed You Xiaodi, and fourth seed Yao Xinxin all achieved perfect records of three wins in the group stage, advancing to the semifinals. Another semifinalist was Shi Han, who, although unseeded, has competed in Grand Slam qualifiers and reached the Hope Tournament final in 2025, making her more prominent than Zeng Yaojie. So, who will advance in the knockout rounds? This article will take you through it today.

The top seed Sun Fajing faced the fourth seed Li Guanyi in the semifinals. It’s worth noting that Li Guanyi is the only player from Taiwan to have participated and reached the China Tour Finals since its inception. Although Li won the Hope Tournament in 2025 and possesses considerable skill, he was completely dominated by Sun Fajing, a former challenger champion, who won decisively with two 6-2 sets, becoming the first finalist.

The second seed Cui Jie played against Zeng Yaojie yesterday. In the first set, Cui took it 6-2, just one step away from advancing; in the second set, Zeng put immense pressure on Cui, even pushing the score to a tiebreak. However, Cui resisted the pressure and clinched the set 7-5, securing his fourth consecutive win and a place in the final. Despite the loss, Zeng Yaojie earned respect for overturning the third seed Mo Yeccong and pushing Cui Jie, who once reached the challenger final, to a tiebreak.

The women's top seed Zheng Wushuang faced Shi Han. Coincidentally, both players reached finals in the 2025 season but unfortunately finished as runners-up. With similar world rankings, many fans expected a thrilling match. However, perhaps due to fearless determination, Shi Han dominated the match, winning 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the final.

Another match featured two seeded players, You Xiaodi and Yao Xinxin, both of whom have competed in Grand Slam qualifiers and have solid abilities. In this contest, the more experienced You Xiaodi performed exceptionally well, conceding only three games throughout the match and advancing smoothly to the final.

In today’s finals, the men’s singles will see a showdown between the top two seeds Sun Fajing and Cui Jie; in the women’s singles, You Xiaodi will take on Shi Han. Objectively, Sun Fajing and You Xiaodi have a better chance of winning. However, anything can happen on the tennis court, so let’s patiently await the final results. That’s today’s tennis story; stay tuned for more tomorrow.(Source: Tennis Home, Author: Yixin Jushi)